JYJ wins court victories anew; fans gather petitions for trio

MANILA, Philippines — K-pop trio JYJ, composed of Xiah Junsu, Micky Yoochun and Youngwoong Jaejoong, won another case when a Seoul court dismissed the two injunctions filed by SM Entertainment aimed at preventing the three from releasing their albums and continuing with their activities.

International fans of JYJ, meanwhile, are gathering signatures for a petition to urge Korean government agencies to protect JYJ’s “legal and human rights.”

In a decision, the Seoul Central District Court dismissed two petitions by SM Entertainment that sought to overturn a court ruling allowing the three singers to continue with their activities without the interference of the Korean entertainment agency.

After the trio filed a court case against SME in July 2009, the Seoul Central District Court issued an injunction against SME in October of the same year that prohibited the company from interfering with JYJ.

SM Entertainment then filed court case to challenge the ruling. It also filed another case asking the court to void the contract between JYJ and C-JeS Entertainment, an agency that was hired by the trio to manage their activities.

The two suits were dismissed. In dismissing the cases, the court said the exclusive contract between SME and JYJ are invalid since it doesn’t give JYJ the freedom of choice and instead forces the trio to follow the orders of the agency.

It added that “the exclusive contract’s (between the three and SME) extreme long-term subordinate nature cannot be justified by pretexts including the decrease of investment risks and ensuring a stable entrance into foreign markets,” according to a translation by TVXQ fan site Tohosomnia.net.

The court also said dismissed the case filed by SME to suspend the exclusive contract between JYJ and C-JeS, saying that since the 2009 court order is still valid, SME cannot interfere with whatever decisions that the three have made.

On the other hand, the petition launched by fans seeks the help of Korean government agencies to condemn SME and Korean entertainment associations’ alleged violations of the court order.

In order to gather more signatures, the petition was translated in Chinese, French, Vietnamese, Thai, Spanish, Portuguese and Bahasa Indonesia.